"Will that help?" asks Nora.
"I believe so. The curse becomes stronger each time a witch gets betrayed by a werewolf, right? But here, the curse has three examples of werewolves who did not betray their mates..."
My voice goes down once I realize the glare Selena is sending her mate, her arms crossed. Nora makes a little grimace too, while Nathaniel has no choice but to stand there.
"Oh, really?" she says.
"I thought you'd forgiven me?" sighs her husband. "It's been years now, I have no intention of leaving you..."
Selena growls, but she doesn't say anything. Alright, maybe just a little bit of bad blood left between those two, but I don't think he betrayed her for a witch... The only witch known in the area was with Liam, so I'd be very surprised. Once again, from what I know, Damian and Nora have always been solid, and Liam and I... Well, despite a rocky start, he chose the werewolf and the witch, so I guess that works.
I clear my throat, trying to ease or ignore the tension in the room.
"A-anyway, the point is, the curse will probably be weaker against any of us three."
"What else can we do?" asks Nora.
"...We can try and narrow down the actual location where that curse began. There was always a mention of a powerful source of magic in Silver City, so... we don't have to wait for one of those witches to act for us to try and find it. If we can get to it first and fight that curse before they meddle, even better."
"How do we find that?" frowns Selena. "From what you said, no one else has been able to find it yet, right?"
I massage my temples, trying to think of the actual solution to this.
"I'm not sure... I could use a location spell of some sort, but I'm probably not the first witch who tried that..."
"Nope," nods Ayesha.
"What else?"
I bite my thumb, but Liam immediately grabs my wrist to take it away from me. Well, I'm still nervous and I really have no idea...
"Don't worry, boo," says Kelsi, putting a hand on my knee. "I'll try to think of something too. Who knows, so far, all witches have failed, but I'd be the first human to try!"
"Our witch specialist," chuckles Ben, giving her a little wink.
"Good idea. We can help you too," adds Nora.
I can't help but smile, feeling a lot better. It's true, I don't have to be the only one to look... and they are not pressuring me either. It doesn't mean there's nothing I can do, though. I don't want to sit on the sidelines while they do all the research, I have to be more prepared than that. I grab the list.
"Another thing is try to understand the curse."
"Didn't we know that already?" frowns Liam.
"Well, I thought so too, but if everyone knows exactly the same story, why have so many witches failed? I believe there is more to it, and I plan to dig deeper."
"How?"
"W-well, it may be quiet for now, but the curse is still inside me..."
"Oh, no, Mara," he growls. "No, no, no."
"What is it?" asks Nora, stepping forward, visibly worried.
"The curse is still inside Mara," says Liam, although he's still frowning my way. "She wants to seek it out and have a little chit-chat with it. Mara, do you realize how sick it made you, no later than last night? You were shivering!"
"Shivering?" repeats Kelsi, visibly shocked too. "Mara can...?"
"Yes, she can, and I'm not letting her do that again, I've had enough boiling hot showers for one lifetime!"
